The present invention relates generally to scuba diving equipment and relates more particularly to a buoyancy control valve which automatically maintains a neutral buoyancy of a diver operating at various depths by admitting air to or releasing air from a diver's buoyancy compensator.
As a scuba diver descends into deeper water, his body, suit and vest become compressed by the increasing water pressure, and the diver's displacement and hence his buoyancy is decreased. Conversely, upon ascending, the diver's displacement becomes greater as the water pressure decreases, and his buoyancy increases.
In order to neutralize these effects, it is common practice for a scuba diver to wear a buoyancy compensator, usually in the form of a vest having inflatable chambers, which provides a neutral buoyancy of the diver at a given depth. To achieve such neutral buoyancy, it is necessary for the diver to manually add air to the buoyancy compensator or vent air from the compensator. Air may be introduced to the compensator directly from pressurized tanks of breathing air, or less commonly, by means of an auxiliary mouth piece, from the diver's lungs. Examples of buoyancy compensators are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,436,777, 4,69,772 and 4,872,783.
The need for a manual adjustment of the buoyancy of the compensator for each significant change in diving depth is a bothersome but heretofore necessary diversion which interrupts the continuity of a dive and which can be an unnecessary complication if the diver's hands are involved in the handling of other equipment such as cameras, propulsion devices or spear guns.